Each year, Forbes employs a team of more than 50 reporters from around the world to track the activity and fortunes of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
When it comes to who holds the top spot as the richest person in the world, there seems to be a constant battle. Names such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Michael Dell, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, Larry Ellison, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffett regularly appear among the world’s wealthiest.
But Jesus offered a very different perspective on wealth: “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” — Mark 8:36
And 1 Timothy 6:17–18 gives divine instruction to those who are wealthy: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
In 1966, J. Paul Getty was named the world’s richest private citizen by the Guinness Book of Records and recognized as the richest living American.
Getty, whose fortune would be worth billions of dollars today, once summed up his secret to becoming wealthy in three simple phrases:
Go to work early. Stay late. Strike oil.
That may have been Getty’s quirky recipe for financial success, but recording artist Ben Fuller offers us a very different definition of being rich.
Ben grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Southern Vermont, working alongside his father. He passed the time singing along to old classic country songs while witnessing firsthand the hard work and dedication required to run a farm.
His life eventually took him into music, a journey he says transformed his life in ways he never could have imagined.
Oddly enough, Ben’s song “I Got Jesus” tells us how to become truly wealthy:
“I’ve seen weakness turn to strength. I’ve seen failures met with grace. I’m the richest man I could ever be. If I’ve got Jesus, I’ve got all that I could ever need.”
What a powerful reminder!
The world measures wealth by bank accounts, investments, possessions and accomplishments. God measures it differently.
We can have very little by the world’s standards and yet possess the greatest treasure of all.
If we’ve got Jesus, we have grace for our failures, strength for our weaknesses, hope for tomorrow and a love that cannot be bought.
Now that is abundant wealth—and it is available to every one of us.
If someone asked you today, “What makes you rich?”—would your answer sound more like Forbes, J. Paul Getty, or Ben Fuller?
